Social media presents businesses with a unique opportunity to directly reach customers for free. The massive impact of Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter in today’s marketing world is undeniable. Instagram has become the latest social media network proving to influence the tastes of today’s consumers. Instagram is a quick and easy social application that enables business owners to create more marketing opportunities in unique, cost-effective ways. To get started, follow these helpful tips for using Instagram as a marketing tool.

Rather than miss out on those spontaneous marketing opportunities, Instagram gives people an easier way to instantly capture and post flash mobs, funny staff moments, city parades, community block parties, resident events, cool product demos, and more spur-of-the-moment events. Instagram makes it possible for these spontaneous moments to become actual opportunities for businesses to connect more with their community and potential prospects or customers.

Hashtags play an extremely important role in Instagram marketing. Nearly all of the major social media networks have incorporated a hashtag based search function. This gives people the ability to find the content they really want, thus giving businesses a gateway to be found in the social streams they want. Hashtag research gives businesses insight into where and when they should be posting, which also helps in creating hashtag marketing campaigns for campaign launches, seasonal resident events, new product or community improvements and more.

Properties often use Instagram to hold costume contests, seasonal raffles, product giveaways, and art competitions that yield customer rewards. This gives your apartment community or business more opportunities to involve your residents or prospective customers throughout the year. After becoming more familiar with hashtag research, businesses can use their own unique hashtags to market fun events like social media contests and incorporate their unique hashtag into other marketing materials, like email blasts, property signage, Facebook posts, and tweets.

Instagram is fast, easy, and gives businesses a unique opportunity to connect with people through spontaneous and relevant real-time events, compelling visual content, and user participation. Looking to reach more customers with that next social media campaign? Start using Instagram today to capture those memorable and marketable moments that help you connect and engage with your customers.

Original post available here.

MultifamilyZone.com | Company Website | MultifamilyZone.com provides a listing of products, services and industry-related companies, technology tools, marketing trends and is a resource for information and news. Our goal is to assist individual owners, as well as fee and national management firms in the operations of their assets by connecting them with professional vendor partners.

LSU, USC Plan Residences, Restaurants, Retail

Mixed-use developments have been among the popular student housing trends the past couple of years. But projects at Louisiana State University and the University of Southern California go beyond placing restaurants and retail outlets on the ground floor of a one-building residential property: They’re planned to be full-fledged live/study/play communities.

Nicholson Gateway at LSU, a public-private partnership still in the planning stage, and USC Village, an under-construction project fully funded and managed by the university, both sit on both lie on campus property. But they take a page from privately owned student housing properties on infill sites close to campus

• First-floor restaurants, cafés and targeted retail.
• Close access to academic buildings and campus entertainment venues.

A Hub for Trojans

The $650 million, 15-acre USC Village is under construction, with completion of the 1.25-million-square-foot project scheduled for late 2017. Some 2,700 beds are planned, bringing the number of on-campus beds at USC to 6,200, part of many universities’ student housing trends toward attract more students to live on campus. Students moving to the village are expected to open up 900 privately owned rental units, according to an article in “USC Trojan Family.”

The largest building of the project, for now called simply “Building 9,” will include 740 beds, which project manager Willy Marsh is comparing to a luxury hotel. 

“The Omni Los Angeles at California Plaza has 769 beds,” Marsh said. “We’re at 740 beds, with a retail component and parking below.”

The USC Village name is not new, but almost all of what remained of the formerly privately owned development has been razed after the university purchased it. Only two of the old buildings stood as of Oct. 1, and one of them, the former Fire Station 15, is being moved to serve as a soundstage for USC’s film school.

Student housing units will occupy the top floors of the five-story buildings. Trader Joe’s has already signed on as the primary grocery story among the ground-floor retail sites. The university also will spend almost $20 million to upgrade roads in the area, and a 466-space underground parking garage is being built.

Much of the student housing will focus on “residential colleges,” which bring together people from varying majors, interests and backgrounds. Professors and their families live amid the students, and various programs are offered within these communities to create the feel of a smaller campus nestled within the large university.

Students in the honors college will have their own living-learning community within USC Village’s residence halls, through wish they will be mentored by faculty members and others.

The university claims that USC Village is “the most expansive development in the history of South Los Angeles,” according to the “USC Trojan Faculty” article. City planners anticipate it will add $5.2 million to the economy.

“This will bring real, tangible benefits to our community and the entire city,” the magazine quoted Los Angeles City Councilmember Curren Price as saying. “It’s also going to act as a catalyst, I think, to encourage additional businesses to invest in the area.”

Nicholson Gateway Almost a Geaux

Five development companies are in the running to assume the “private” part of the public-private Nicholson Gateway partnership, which is expected to add 1,670 beds to LSU’s on-campus total.

In addition to student housing, the 28-acre Nicholson Gateway is expected to include restaurants, 30,000-50,000 square feet of “student-centric” retail, study areas and meeting areas, according to an article in the “Baton Rouge Advocate.” The entire project is planned for Fall 2018 completion.

The location across from Tiger Stadium – and the site of the now-razed Alex Box Stadium, the former LSU baseball park – not only will be convenient to LSU football fans, but will transform what has been known as the back end of campus. The LSU Property Foundation, which is managing the project for the university, called it the most underdeveloped tract of land on campus.

The finalists to develop the project are:

• American Campus Communities, one of the top student-housing REITs.
• Corvias Campus Living, which last year entered into an extensive public-private partnership with the University System of Georgia.
• Capstone Development Partners, which has experience with Louisiana public universities, having built and developed more than 2,300 on-campus beds at Southeastern Louisiana University.
• RISE Real Estate, another company with a large Louisiana presence, having built residence halls at Southern, Grambling State, McNeese State and Southern-Shreveport universities.
• Balfour Beatty Campus Solutions, which has built student housing properties at Texas A&M University, the University of Nevada and the University of Iowa.

The winner will be selected in early 2016, with construction slated to start in mid-2017.

Original post by AxioMetrics

Boomers May be Keeping Rents, Occupancy Growing

A recent Pew Research Center report titled “More Millennials Living with Family Despite Improved Job Market,” which touches on apartment demographics, found that fewer households are headed by 18-34 year-olds (millennials) now than 10 years ago. This, despite a decrease in the unemployment rate for this age cohort and an increase in the group’s population.

The headline unemployment rate (U3) for 18-34 year-olds fell from a peak of 12.4% in 2010 to less than 8% in 2015. Meanwhile, the population in this cohort not enrolled in college grew by 5.4 million from 2005-2014. To be fair, the 18-34 age group of 10 years ago contained about half as many millennials as now, because the oldest millennials are just turning 34 or 35 this year. In 2005, this smaller age cohort included a large portion of Generation X, the generation between baby boomers and millennials.

According to the Pew report, “In spite of these positive economic trends and the growth in the 18- to 34-year-old population, there has been no uptick in the number of young adults establishing their own households.”

There could be several reasons for this phenomenon, such as:

• The generally weak economic recovery from the Great Recession, which has not created the right types of jobs that would spur household creation for this population.
• Student debt, weak credit and, perhaps, a lack of “push” from helicopter parents — who may be more tolerant of stay-at-home young adults than previous generations – also could be factors.

The following chart illustrates the diverging trends in total (owner and renter) households headed by younger people and the raw increase in population for this group. The Pew report states that both the number of young adults living with their parents or “doubled up” with one or more roommates has increased steadily since 2007. Since 2005, the non-student population of 18-34 year-olds has increased from 55.9 million to 61.3 million, while the number of households headed by this age group has fallen from 24.4 million to 22.3 million.

This group of young adults is poised to enter the market in the (hopefully) near future, creating a pool of pent-up demand. This age cohort is also the group most likely to rent an apartment, putting even more pressure on the current pace of escalating rents.

In addition, the growing population of young adults who have not created their own households has stunted demand for household furnishings, appliances, cable and satellite hook-ups, and other purchases that home buyers and first-time renters obtain. The economy will certainly benefit if and when these young people move out on their own.

What does all this mean for the demographics of the apartment market? 

A lot has been written about millennials’ propensity to rent an apartment rather than purchase a home, and how that helps spur the high demand for apartments in many metro areas. This demand has been responsible for tight vacancy rates and high rent-growth figures in these markets. In fact, according to the Axiometrics August Market Trends Report, national annual effective rent growth exceeded 5% for the seventh straight month and national occupancy exceeded 95% for the sixth consecutive month. Both of these metrics are records.

The homeownership rate by age cohort gets progressively higher as householders tend to gravitate toward homeownership over time. But if millennials are delaying not only homeownership, but household creation of either type, who is providing the apartment demand that has kept vacancy rates low and rent growth high around the country?

In a word: boomers.

The change in renter households by age group in the chart below reveals that baby boomers and empty-nesters have increasingly preferred renting. The 55- to 74-year-old age cohort has created an average of 355,000 renter households per year from 2006-2014. This figure includes single-family, townhome and condo rentals and includes homeowners who lost their houses to foreclosure after the housing bubble burst.

Surprisingly, the 35- to 44-year-old age group – the group that comprises the majority of homebuyers as they marry and have children – actually had the next-highest rate of rental-household creation, averaging about 288,000 per year from 2006-2014. Again, foreclosures and rental lifestyle choices play a part in this figure.

Millennials certainly are a large part of the current apartment growth cycle, as they outnumber the ages 55-74 renter-household total almost 2-1. But the increase in rental households headed by 18- to 34-year-olds increased by an annual average of only 44,000 since 2006.

It’s also worth noting that part of the reason for high rent growth and low vacancy rates around the country is the result of a shortfall in multifamily units built because of the Great Recession, as discussed in our May Permitting Report and a subsequent blog post.

More than 500,000 multifamily units were not built from 2009-2013 than would have been had the annual average from 1995-2008 prevailed and the recession not occurred. If millennials were creating households at the rate that would normally be expected based on their population and given the existing shortfall of inventory, rent growth would be even higher and vacancies tighter with increased demand. It appears this slower household formation for millennials is just right for right now.

Original Post by AxioMetrics

REIT Rent Growth a Record 7.0% in September

The performance of publicly traded apartment REITs have been one of the primary reasons the national apartment market has been so strong the past couple of years. The 10 companies averaged 7.0% annual effective rent growth in September, a solid 179 basis points higher than the overall national rate of 5.2%.

Much of that advantage can be found when comparing REIT rent-growth rates to the overall figures in the metro markets they serve. The table below compares the REITs’  rent-growth rates to the top 17 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs), ranked by annual effective rent growth, as found in Axiometrics’ monthly Market Trends Report.

The number of properties each REIT has in the different MSAs varies – as do individual property and location specifics. But the list gives a snapshot of how the REITs compared to the average in eachof the apartment markets in September. The rate of the top-performing REIT within each MSA is in bold.

Looking at where the apartment REITs had the largest advantage over the market average may give an idea of the REITs’ relative success in each market.

• Aimco’s (AIV) 8.2% rent-growth rate in Seattle was 21 basis points (bps) higher in September than the MSA’s 8.0%.
• Avalon Bay’s (AVB) best performance relative to the market average was in Los Angeles, where AVB’s 12.3% rent-growth rate was 513 bps higher than the metro’s 7.1%.
• With a rate of 8.8%, Camden Property Trust (CPT) outperformed the 6.6% market average in Tampa by 224 bps. Tampa is one of several strong Florida markets and was new to the top 17 list in September.
• Equity Residential’s (EQR) strongest comparative results were in Phoenix, where the REIT’s 11.9% rent-growth rate was 456 bps higher than the market’s 7.4%.
• Essex Property Trust (ESS), which has had the highest annual effective rent growth among REITs for 14 straight months, outperformed the Los Angeles market rent-growth average, 11.9% versus 7.1%.
• Mid-America Apartment Communities (MAA) beat the Orlando average of 8.4% with a rate of 14.0%. This also was the strongest REIT rate for that market.
• Monogram Residential (MORE) outperformed the Los Angeles average by 180 bps with an annual effective growth rate of 8.9%.
• Milestone Apartments (MST.UN) had its strongest performance relative to Nashville’s market average (6.7%). The REIT’s rate was 12.4% in September.
• Post Properties’ (PPS) 7.0% annual effective rent growth in Tampa outperformed the market’s September average of 6.6%.
• Finally, UDR’s strongest performance relative to the market average was in Seattle. The REIT’s 11.4% rent-growth rate was 334 bps higher than the metro’s 8.0% in September. This was also the strongest REIT performance for that MSA last month.

Original post available at AxioMetrics

Your website is a leasing tool. It should be attractive, effective and functional. Having your own website helps in the search engine rankings. But, once you get people to your site, how do you keep them there?

Effective sites have 4 important features

Visual content: People process visuals much faster than text — in fact 60,000 times faster. But, quality of the content is oh so critical. Using your smartphone isn’t the best way to capture your cascading pool. Hire and use professional photographers for a better return on your investment. After all, you’ve done a lot of work to get people to your site, now you want to keep them looking. Also, don’t forget to include a “call to action” button, that prompts your prospects to call, email or visit your property.

Unit-specific content: Renters want to see and know about where they are going to live. A great pool and awesome pet park is cool, but what about their specific floorplan’s kitchen, bedroom or bath? What can you highlight in a photo to make it pop? In the age of “instant gratification,” people want photos, reviews and videos. Without these, they’re moving on to the next option. Instead of stock photos, use actual photos of nicely decorated models or tenant apartments.

Responsive Web design: Mobile usage is on the rise. It’s a given fact that people use their smartphones for most everything they previously did on their computers. They are especially effective for research on the go, and finding an apartment on a phone is no exception.

Video tours: Viewers are 85 percent more likely to buy after watching a product video. A 2014 MarketingSherpa report shows viewers spend 100 percent more time on pages with videos. Walkthrough video tours are the best. You gain a 24/7 virtual leasing agent that can give full tours anytime. Virtual tours also save leasing staff time by prequalifying those who are really interested in visiting in person. Video tours are also easy ways to remind people of your community — property managers can remind prospects via a link, pushing your community to top of mind awareness,

Nontechnical marketing tips

1. Meet and interact with your tenants. Surveys and emails are good, but talking to your tenants can be valuable.

2. Pilot new ideas in a small way, survey your tenants experience to see if this is a value-add or if it’s a bust.

3. Word-of-mouth marketing is a great way to increase lease-ups, and giving your tenants discounts on their rent for bringing in new tenants can be effective.

In conclusion, property owners and managers have a huge role to play in the life of a resident. You are managing people’s lives. How you respond to this role can make or break your community’s success.

From small 15-unit communities to large multiphase communities, owners and managers can share in the success when each aspect of the apartment life cycle is considered. Enjoy!

Source: multibriefs.com

As a property manager, a bad review is going to happen at some point in your career. Individual opinions will vary no matter how hard you try to exceed client expectations. However, when a bad review does occur it’s up to you to save your reputation, maintain your professionalism, and respond with respect.

Hopefully bad reviews are rare for your business, but with these five tips, you can turn any negative experience into a positive one for your brand.

1. Respond in a timely fashion. Responding to your first bad review will be like ripping off a Band-Aid; it might sting a little, but the longer you let it sit the worse it gets. You need to respond professionally and quickly to a negative review. Make sure to carefully write your response so that it’s both considerate and respectful. (Keep in mind that current and potential clients might read and judge your response.) I recommend writing your response, sitting on it for an hour, and then edit it again before posting. If you respond too hastily you might respond with a harsher tone than intended.

2. Encourage the reviewer to take the conversation offline. In today’s digital world, it’s far too easy to start throwing around insults when responding to negative reviews, particularly when the person initiating the negative comments can’t be reasoned with. In a professional and polite way, encourage the reviewer to take the conversation offline. If the comment appears on Twitter, ask the person to direct message you. When you find yourself going back and forth with a disgruntled person online, you’re basically having a public argument—something frowned upon in any industry. Whether it’s through a phone conversation or in-person meeting, you’re more likely to create a positive experience in a private setting. Remember, a properly handled negative review should end in problem resolution.

3. Think about your potential clients. Your potential client is going to be either a resident or a property owner. If they see you get into an online argument, they might get the impression that you’re hard to work with, sending them straight to your competition. At the same time, your potential clients will want to see how you handle conflicts. As mentioned earlier, timeliness and professionalism are the two key elements to a proper response. Using polite phrases, such as “please,” “thank you,” or “we greatly appreciate the time you took to provide feedback” can go a long way toward diffusing the situation and reassuring your potential clients that you are the best option.

4. Remember you’re running a business. When someone sends you a negative review it’s very easy to take things personally. But this isn’t your personal Facebook page; it’s incredibly important that you remember to keep things on a business level. For example, suggesting that they contact the office or asking if there is anything that the business can do to improve or resolve their concerns can help you to keep things from getting personal. Again, you want to subtly guide the conversation offline. The sooner it’s offline, the easier it is to achieve a resolution and mitigate any harmful effects from the review.

5. Write your response with your ideal customer in mind. An ideal customer is someone who conducted research before deciding that he or she wanted to work with you. This type of customer has specifically chosen you for a wide variety of reasons. Make your response to the negative review one of those reasons. Show them that you’re aware of the needs of others, respectful of past clients, maintain a professional demeanor at all times, and are dedicated to continuous improvement. These characteristics are exactly what an ideal customer wants to see from a successful property manager.

After reading the above five tips you should feel more confident about your ability to handle a negative review. If, for some reason, things escalate online and you can’t resolve the issue, remember to keep your cool. If all else fails simply try saying, “Thank you for your feedback, if you have additional comments please contact us directly at [insert contact info here].” If the reviewer continues to comment they will lose credibility, while you retain your professionalism.

Appfolio | Company Website | LinkedIn Connect | AppFolio, Inc. develops Property Management Software that helps businesses improve their workflow so they save time and make more money. Appfolio submits articles & blogs including topics of Resident Retention, Improved Owner Communication, Time Management, and more.

Branded communication is much more than a logo slapped on a brochure or a website. Brand is the experiential and emotional connection to your prospects and tenants. Creative Bloq calls 2015 the “human brand era” — making brand owners responsible for listening to the world around them and delivering a more personal experience for end users.

From your logo to your building interiors, every action and every detail in an environment communicates something about your brand — impacting staff and tenant perceptions. When you think about your brand positioning, consider this the sum total of all the elements that define the benefits of the brand. This includes your staff, pricing, advertising, uniforms, leasing experience, website and your signage.

Architectural signage is a key component of an effective wayfinding plan, but your plan should be about more than just signage. In built environments, wayfinding includes the use of architectural elements — both structural features and open spaces.

Signs as a capital consideration might seem trivial, but if you are counting on drive-by appeal or helping tenants navigate the grounds, they are one of the most important aspects of marketing your community. This method of “on the street” marketing is one nondigital way of capturing the attention of your prospects as well as directing tenants or city services on property.

Identity and place-making signs are also great ways to add impact — providing a strong sense of “you are here” by differentiating a space or place from others. These express the uniqueness of the place and inspire, engage, connect and call users to action.

We don’t often give signage the attention it deserves. Think about it. There are thousands of people who have never been to your door. Your sign is the first impression being made on prospective tenants. Often, people judge the quality of your business on that first impression. So, what is your sign saying to them? Is it a blur of crowded text and graphics, illegible to drivers?

A creative, attractive monument can help your business stand apart from the competition. Signs create awareness of your location, reinforce your brand and drive prospective tenants to the leasing office. Signs are your silent salesperson who works 24 hours a day, seven day a week. And they are essential to your marketing strategy.

Sign types: Exterior signs can be ground-mounted or building-mounted (blade, pole, roof). Ground-mounted signs can take on a variety of shapes and sizes and are typically placed near a road to attract the attention of passing motorists. Building-mounted signs are attached to the place of business and may be useful in areas where foot traffic is common, such as an urban community.

Benefits: For communities that have limited funds, signs can be cost-effective marketing. According to the SBA website, the cost-per-thousand (a common method used to measure the cost of reaching a thousand potential customers) is much lower for signage than other types of advertising, such as radio, televisions and newspapers.

ADA compliance: The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires state and local governments, businesses and nonprofit organizations to provide goods, services and programs to people with disabilities. ADA requires that covered multifamily dwellings be designed and constructed with accessible features:

• The public and common use areas must be readily accessible to and usable by persons with disabilities
• All doors designed to allow passage into and within all premises of covered dwellings must be sufficiently wide for persons with disabilities

Sign ordinances and permits: Local regulations might aim to limit proliferation of offensive or oversized signs and protect public safety. Generally, these ordinances are helpful because municipalities want their businesses to be successful, but occasionally the replacement of an existing sign or proposed new sign doesn’t conform to the ordinance and requires a variance from the plan commission, council or town board.

Legibility: Signs that attract attention must be visible and readable. No one would install a sign behind a tree, but putting it near trees or shrubs that will overgrow it will limit its effective life as well. A study conducted by the Small Business Development Corp. suggests that signs placed on typical local streets where the speed limit is 25 mph, can be as small as 25 square feet but should be 12 feet high to be readable. Signs placed along a freeway where speed limits exceed 55 mph requires an area between 300 and 450 square feet with 74 to 90 feet of height to be noticed.

Creativity: Use thought-provoking ideas to change consumer perceptions. Be active to make signage extend the brand. Choose fonts for your sign that are easy to read, and do not use more than two fonts in the entire sign. If possible, pick fonts that are consistent with the theme of your business.

Materials: There are so many material options for signage, only limited by vendors’ imagination and your budget. Do you want your community to have a night presence? Consider aluminum cabinets with LED panels that use photocells that respond to natural lighting. Do you want a contemporary, but long-lasting structure? Try using Corten steel which patinas over time, adding a contemporary rustic charm to your entrance. Are you marketing an A-plus community? Granite and stone might be the right look. You can even achieve the look of masonry structures at a reduced rate. Possibly a stone veneer or spray stone option will refresh a tired monument at a fraction of the cost of real stone.

Signage is a great way to increase your community’s drive-by appeal.

In the fourth part of this series, we’ll look at how to use online marketing to promote your community.

Source: multibriefs.com

American Apartment Owners Association | Company Website | At the American Apartment Owners Association (AAOA), our mission is to serve the interests of landlords, real estate brokers, property managers, real estate owners and apartment building owners nationally.  Visit www.AAOA.com for more information about membership details!

As the summer comes to an end and the holiday months quickly approach, it’s time for property managers to start the new season off right. Conducting end of summer maintenance can help you save money during the winter, keep your residents and owners happy, and improve the curb appeal of the homes in your property management portfolio.

To make sure that all of your properties are properly maintained, you should consider tackling some of the following items.

1. Check the air flow. Check your vents, room fans, dryer vents, baseboard heaters, and HVAC units for any built-up dust. Make sure to clean these areas thoroughly so that the dust won’t cause any blockages in the air flow.

2. Turn up the heat. Make sure that the HVAC unit is thoroughly, and professionally, inspected and serviced. Furnace filters should be changed and the heat should be checked to make sure that it’s working properly.

3. Light the fireplace and clean the chimney. Depending on your location, a fireplace is a great attribute to any property. Check the fireplace and chimney to make sure that they are clean and free of any debris. The fireplace flue and liners should also be cleaned to prevent the build up of ash and soot. If your unit includes an electric fireplace, test it to make sure it is in working condition.

4. Paint the walls and clean the carpets. Fall is the perfect time to do a little sprucing up on typical wear and tear areas. Consider interior painting, carpet cleaning, and carpet replacement if needed. Make sure to tackle these tasks when the weather is still warm enough to keep the windows open and the rooms ventilated.

5. Check the insulation. Insulation is a critical component to keeping homes warm during the winter. Check the exterior of each property for any spot that might need new weatherstripping. Also check to see if any areas need new caulking. Finally, make sure that windows and doors aren’t letting in the cold outside air or letting out warm air.

6. Protect the deck, patio, and porch areas. Clean away dust and debris from the surfaces of the deck, patio, and porch spaces. Look for signs of cracking, chipped paint, or holes. Use wood putty or stone filler to repair any surfaces areas that have been damaged during the summer. Make sure to repaint the surface before the wet fall weather begins.

7. Repair driveways and walkways. Check the driveway and walkways for any cracks to prevent the winter rain from eroding the surface any further. Depending on the surface, fill in the cracks to keep the spaces looking nice, while remaining functional.

8. Clean the kitchen sink and garbage disposal. During the summer, the humidity and sun will have increased the bacteria population in your garbage disposal. Use garbage disposal cleaner down the drain to disinfect and remove any clogs or have a plumber do a full checkup. Food stains and rust should be removed from the sink. Also, check the kitchen for any ant or bug infestations.

9. Clean all bathrooms. Use a mildew remover to scour the bathroom until it shines. Apply grout to any areas that need it, such as the bathtub and shower. Remove soap scum from the showers, tubs, and sinks. Finally, apply a fresh paint of coat to any areas that are looking a little rough.

10. Clean all gutters. Gutter debris can become particularly hazardous during the winter. Remove leaves, twigs, and anything else that might cause the gutters to clog during the winter. Finally, use a garden hose to test the gutters to make sure that water is flowing freely through each gutter, down the spouts, and into a rain barrel or out onto the lawn a safe distance from the home.

With these end of summer maintenance upkeep tasks completed, your homes will be ready for the fall and winter seasons.

Appfolio | Company Website | LinkedIn Connect | AppFolio, Inc. develops Property Management Software that helps businesses improve their workflow so they save time and make more money. Appfolio submits articles & blogs including topics of Resident Retention, Improved Owner Communication, Time Management, and more.

Evictions are an occupational hazard. To say the least, the word is cringe-worthy alone. Despite that sentiment, on the other hand, eviction records are notoriously useful.

Previously we myth busted criminal records and now we’re doing the same thing with eviction records. Test your knowledge by reading below and see if you can spot something new. You might be surprised.

MYTH: A SSN is needed to find eviction records.

Fact: ApplyConnect.com matches on name and the defendant’s address. When a landlord files an unlawful detainer the SSN is rarely included, thus that is not used directly.

MYTH: “I don’t need to run an eviction check. It’ll be on the credit report.”

Fact: While a money judgment against an applicant who didn’t pay their rent may be picked up by the credit bureau as a public record, most evictions won’t appear. The bureaus report less than 10% of the cases filed and they are only ones involving a monetary judgment. For example if the tenant violated the terms of their lease agreement like having an unauthorized pet but was not late on their rent, the eviction judgment would not be on the credit report.

Many cases, especially in California, are for possession only. The landlord is eager to get the delinquent tenants out first and will go back to the court later to file for monetary restitution.

The ApplyConnect eviction report will return non-monetary civil cases like these mentioned… even ones where the tenants paid after being served or voluntarily vacated the property as permitted by state and federal law.

MYTH: An eviction record can be used against an applicant forever.

Fact: Industry practice is that evictions are reported for 7 years per the FCRA (5 years in Oregon – Senate Bill 91).

MYTH: “If the evictions go through the court system, it’ll definitely show up as a criminal record.”

Fact: This isn’t necessarily true. Unless an eviction carried some type of criminal charge with it, the eviction would be filed as a civil record and would not appear on a criminal report.

MYTH: Evictions only matter if there is a judgment.

Fact: Performing a background check on potential tenants is about gaining an objective look at the type of renter they will be. Researching evictions that had judgments as well as filings is essential to spot any negative patterns an applicant has. Surprisingly, some applicants with a history of poor renter habits know how to skirt the system by getting just enough warnings or threats without going to court before moving on to the next unsuspecting property. Some states have restrictions on the use of cases without a judgment which ApplyConnect has in place.

MYTH: Evictions are a blacklist and aren’t governed by the same laws as credit reporting.

Fact: Governed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), eviction reports are subject to laws on a federal (and oftentimes statewide) level relating to Consumer Reporting Agencies (CRAs). While you can accept or deny applicants with evictions at your discretion, there are reporting restrictions (FCRA Sect. 605) in relation to Adverse Actions for civil suits, collections and “any other adverse item of information”. There are also regulations set on who has access to consumer files. Based on the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act consumers have a right to their privacy. So treating eviction records as a blacklist, isn’t wise in the long run.

Rather than dreading the word “evictions”, use your newfound knowledge about eviction reports to your advantage when making rental decisions. In order to make an educated rental decision, an eviction check, alongside a credit and criminal report, are vital in a background checking service.

Becky Bower is a writer for ApplyConnect.com/blog and a communications intern at ApplyConnect.com, a nationwide tenant screening company. She has also spent several years in compliance and auditing. Becky holds a degree in English with a focus in creative writing from CSU Channel Islands and is a published writer.

(DALLAS, TEXAS – August 17, 2015) —The national apartment market could be in its hottest long-term streak since the Great Recession, with six straight months of 5.0% or greater annual effective rent growth as of July 2015, according to Axiometrics, the leader in apartment and student housing market research.

The July 2015 rate of 5.2% brought the streak to the half-year mark and was the highest rate reported since the 5.3% of July 2011, according to Axiometrics’ apartment market research. The previous record streak of 5% effective rent growth was four months, from May through August 2011.

“Despite a record amount of new supply being delivered this year, the 2.1% job growth recorded in July – and the 200,000+ jobs added per month in most months during the past year – has increased the renter pool,” said Stephanie McCleskey, Axiometrics Vice President of Research. “Furthermore, the apartment industry is still playing catch-up for all the units not built during the recession and immediate aftermath.”

Some 121,002 new units were delivered in the first six months of 2015, with 161,226 identified for delivery in the second half of the year, according to Axiometrics’ apartment data.

July’s effective rent-growth rate was 3 basis points (bps) higher than June’s 5.1%, and 137 bps above the 3.8% reported in July 2014.

Occupancy Rates Down Slightly in July

The national occupancy rate remained high in July, though it decreased by 11 bps from June’s 95.3% to 95.2%.

“Although occupancy rates remain elevated, they are starting to dip due to seasonality,” McCleskey said. “Occupancy rates typically fall during the second half of the year.”

Bay Area Rebounds in Top 17

Oakland (14.5%) was, yet again, at the top of the list for effective rent growth in July, followed by Portland (13.8%), among Axiometrics’ top 50 markets, as determined by number of units. The Bay Area metros of San Francisco (11.0%) and San Jose (10.4%) leapfrogged Denver and Sacramento to capture the third and fourth positions.

“San Francisco’s effective rent growth returned to double digits this month after three months in the 9% range,” McCleskey said. “This may be a blip on the screen, since we forecast moderation in Bay Area rent growth, though the markets will remain among the strongest in the nation.”

Los Angeles and Dallas dropped off the top 17 list this month, replaced by West Palm Beach (6.5%) and San Diego (7.3%). Whereas West Palm Beach re-entered the list at the bottom, San Diego darted up to eighth place.

California remained the dominant state on the list with six of the top 17 markets, followed by Florida, which had three markets in the top 17.

by Ross Coulter
About Axiometrics

Axiometrics’ specialty is monitoring the apartment and student housing markets, providing an in-depth view of volatile market trends. Axiometrics’ granular data-collection methods and enlightening analysis help clients make profitable – and intelligent – decisions. To learn more visit www.axiometrics.com, follow @Axiometrics or on LinkedIn, or call 214-953-2242.